Only a Second
by StarPurpleandBlue
Summary: "His throat burned every time time he inhaled the freezing air, but it was a welcome discomfort when there was an annoying numbness spreading through him." Life is a very feeble thing, and it's at times like this that Tsuna remembers that. Pre-established R27. Not as angsty as it seems


_**A/N:**_ I... need happier ideas to write for this couple. But, alas, I like writing slightly sad stuff when I'm feeling down, so here's the product. I avoided making it as sad as I wanted at first, but it's still a bit like that XD Hopefully the rest makes up for that.

* * *

 _It's a moonless night_ , Tsuna noticed as he stared at the sky, his breath heavy and slow. His throat burned every time time he inhaled the freezing air, but it was a welcome discomfort when there was an annoying numbness spreading through him.

His surroundings were calm, and although the low lighting gave the cool night a somber look, Tsuna wasn't bothered. He was too tired for that, his eyelids already feeling heavy, and it felt like the perfect time to sleep.

No, he shouldn't.

Tsuna exhaled shakily when he felt another chill. His hyper intuition had been bugging him nonstop, and the worry was eating him up, but with the constant buzzing on his ears and his drowsiness, he couldn't make sense of it.

Such a beautiful and calm-looking night, and yet so terrible in reality.

He moved a hand to pull away some of his sticky bangs, but stopped with a wince at the sharp pain that shot up his whole arm. He gritted his teeth and looked down, but it was dark and his vision was getting blurry, so he only made out gray and black and red, maybe the flash of fire somewhere to his right. If only that wall hadn't-

His intuition rang alarm bells inside his mind. Tsuna turned just in time to see a blue blur before two loud bangs rang, the sound echoing in the half-destroyed corridor. He winced as something sharp cut his cheek at the same time the moving blur went down with a thump.

 _Damn. Not now, not now._

Tsuna tensed at the following sound of steps. This one had been so close - too close - and he hadn't even noticed until the last second. He tried to force his other arm to hold his strength enough for him to sit up because he needed to do something, but it only brought him a new wave of pain.

He was really screwed up this time.

"Hey, Tsuna!"

The calling of his nickname made Tsuna freeze.

"Tsuna!"

The voice came again, and this time Tsuna recognized it.

He felt a relieved smile grow on his face when Reborn got closer until he was kneeling beside him, not looking any worse than a few scratches. Memory of a time earlier in the fight when an explosion came from the direction Reborn had just gone to, of the lack of knowledge of what had happened and the lack of a choice on what to do. He knew Reborn was skilled, one of the most capable men he ever met, but seeing him unscathed was still like a breath of fresh air.

"Hey, don't close your eyes."

"'m not closing th'm." Tsuna frowned at the sound of his voice, before sighing. He was so tired, he just wanted to sleep. The battle had been going on for too long, he needed to check on his family, but he was so tired. "How're you? And the oth'rs?"

"I'm fine, of course. Your guardians are mostly too." Reborn was frowning, and Tsuna felt he was being scrutinized thoroughly. He couldn't hold back a wince when Reborn touched the newest cut on his cheek as his frown darkened.

"Mostly?"

Reborn sighed. "They're alright, Tsunayoshi, but you aren't. What the hell were you doing here _alone_?"

"Follo'ed the Don here, but th' wall fell on us." Tsuna scrunched his nose at the remembrance.

This fight was stupidly unnecessary, Tsuna had known from the start, but he couldn't not retaliate when his family was being attacked. The West wing had probably been damaged beyond belief, and he had no idea about what happened to his people. He, Hayato and Takeshi had been looking out for them, but then boss of that cursed famiglia had shown up and they had gotten separated.

It was all so tiring. So stupid. So sorrowful.

Things could be alright in a moment, and destroyed at the next, in the blink of an eye, with a simple boom and walls falling over.

Tsuna was still moving, still breathing, but others might not have been so lucky, might have been too much to the right at the wrong moment, like that Don. It could have all been over in a second.

Only a second.

But Tsuna didn't have time to think like this, he had a famiglia to take care of.

But he was so tired…

"Dame-Tsuna, open your eyes. Come on, Tsuna," his shoulder was slightly shaken. "Tsuna!"

He forced eyes that shouldn't have been closed open again until he was looking at Reborn, confusion making its way in the midst of his sleepiness. Reborn had an odd expression on his face, and it took Tsuna a few seconds to recognize it as worry mixed with fear.

Fear?

"What's... with that face, Reborn?"

"What do you think it is for?" Reborn snapped, but there was no real bite to it. "What did you think you were doing? You might have a concussion."

"S-sorry…" Tsuna chuckled weakly, and immediately regretted when he felt a sharp pang of hurt on his stomach.

"Goddammit," Reborn muttered, and he was back at analyzing Tsuna with intensity. "You're worse than I thought."

"That bad?" Tsuna tried to sound amused, but it came out more as tired. He was really... tired...

"Tsunayoshi, _open your eyes_. Don't you dare close them, you hear me?" Reborn's face was swimming on his vision, but it was still easy to notice he was making that face again, and Tsuna's heart clenched at the need to comfort him.

Tsuna tried to move his arm, wanting to envelope Reborn in a hug, touch his face, _anything_ , to show it'd be alright and change that expression, but felt a resistance. When he looked down, it was on Reborn's glowing hands resting on Tsuna's arm and chest that his eyes focused.

Sun flames. Reborn was healing him.

At once, the pain started diminishing, and Tsuna was able to take a relieved shaky breath. He shook his head slowly. "Hey... No, don't strain yourself."

"It's not like I don't have enough energy. I can take care of the worst, but after that we'll need to move. It's not safe here," Reborn said. A sigh escaped his lips, and without moving his hands from their position, he leaned down until his forehead was against Tsuna's, and closed his eyes.

'I can't lose you. I just can't.' Reborn mouthed, certainly not meaning to be noticed, but Tsuna did, and a lump formed on his throat.

"I'm sorry," he croaked out. _I won't do it again, I promise_ , he wanted to say, but they would both know it was a lie.

He moved his hand to hold tightly on the tip of Reborn's sleeve. "Sorry," he repeated, and tried to convey all the rest he wanted to say through his eyes, hoping it was enough for now.

Reborn sighed and moved back. "Just try to avoid being hit by debris of a wall next time. What's the advantage of you having hyper intuition if you don't pay attention to the damn thing when you need to?"

"It's been ringing through the whole battle."

"For a reason, you idiot."

"Not idiot," Tsuna pouted, and it was interesting to watch as Reborn's face wavered for a millisecond before it hardened again.

"Yeah, you'll have to prove it to me. You'll get a new training regimen very soon, and I don't care how busy you'll be."

It wasn't the right moment, but Tsuna snorted in amusement, moving his hand until his fingers could rest on Reborn's hand. It wasn't the first time he heard such statement, and it usually came with other more interesting connotations, so it was with a cheeky grin that he said: "Heh, can't wait for it."

"You're impossible." Reborn rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched up.

They fell in silence after that, and Tsuna finally relaxed as the worst of the pain completely receded. He closed his eyes for a second to enjoy the feeling before opening them again and turning his attention to Reborn, his glowing sun flames and his concentrated face.

It was a comfortably warm sight.


End file.
